Let;s be honest, guys, shock value is a major problem with Flynn's writing. Quite a few times, twists are done to surprise and offset readers more than they are for good storytelling, and often have another solution that could have been just as, if not more servicable, and wouldn't have been a shock. So, I'm going to list them off.

Since I'm tired of beating this dead horse, I'll put 172 on the list. Honestly, I'm just bored of this buggered-up crap now, and I'd rather spend my time finding another way around it than complaining about it, but for completeness' sake, here it is:

The Twist: Fiona Fox, Sonic's girlfriend, team medic, actually original character, and potential significant other for Tails, is actually evil and has been cheating on Sonic with Scourge.

The problem: It completely derails her character and is pretty much a non-lethal example of being stuffed into the fridge.

The solution: Of these, there are many, so I'll only list two so we can get on to a new topic. 1: Fiona develops in a way that fits with her character. She gets more depth (As opposed to just becoming a different sort of shallow- at least good Fiona had the excuse of not being properly developed yet. Bad Fiona is just bland), and her character can progress. She also parts with Sonic on amicable terms and they remain friends afterwards. Explore the aspects of her character that were already there, instead of removing them and adding new ones with no rhyme or reason other than giving Scourge some arm candy. If you absolutely have to preserve the twist, then 2) Use a new character for this purpose. F.I.N.O is just that, Fiona In Name Only. Her personality is different. Her skillset is different. Her backstory is altered. Her goddamn appearance is different. The only link is name and species.


Now, going in order:

1) Anonymous

The Twist: Despite clearly being set up as Robotnik Prime, Anonymous is revealed to instead be ADAM.

The problem: Robotnik Prime was clearly shown in silhouette as Anonymous is previous issues. In changing him to ADAM, the series lost the potential for the return of an actual serious, yet still classic Sonic villain, which would have opened up huge storytelling opportunities. All ADAM did as anonymous was finally kill Tommy Turtle, and that could have been done by Robotnik.  Eggman also lost one of his most useful allies, and was left with no underlings except his various Starscreams, until Mecha Sally came along, and let's be honest, Mecha Sally kinda blows.

The solution: Anonymous is Robotnik Prime. Who cares if it doesn't come as a surprise, it still has much better storytelling opportunities than ADAM. THe change was only done to preserve the shock reveal, something that wouldn't have been needed if the foreshadowing wasn't utterly transparent (Flynn-era Archie cannot do foreshadowing, it seems). So, before any Flynn defenders get on their high-horse about it, here is an example of him literally changing a story for the worst to preserve a shock value reveal.


2) The Destruction Of Knothole.

The Twist: Eggman nukes Knothole off the map and traps everyone but Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy in the Egg Grapes.

The problem: Eggman manages to sneak up a frigging airstrike on the city. Said city is then replaced by something that looks almost exactly the same, but is actually made of nanobots. However, it lacks thethe iconic status that Knothole had for western fans, and New Mobotropolis just doesn't have the same ring to it.

The solution: Capture everyone without completely torching the place, but still badly damaging it. Nicole then uses the nanites from the nanite city to repair the place and form a shield over it, giving it the same properties as the new city but preserving the iconic location.


3) Knuxerjak

The Twist: The new Enerjak is Knuckles.

The problem: In a rare exception, this isn't a problem. Knuxerjak is actually a pretty damn good story arc. The only really bad thing about it is Locke dying without closure.

The solution: Give Knuckles and Locke some closure before the latter dies. Done.


Then it went a way for a while. Flynn just told new stories, that weren't entirely horrible. On the whole, the things between Knuxerjak and the end of the 100s were readable, aside from a few black spots, and those weren't due to shock value. Then it returned in force.


4) More Face Heel Turns.

The Twist: Nicole is turned into Iron Nicole by plot convenience and Espio turns out to be a spy for the Dominion.

The Problem: Nicole, being from a timeline where the heroes already knew about the Iron Dominion, should have had a Magitek resistance from the get-go. It's not hard, apparently Sally can do it from inside Nicole's processor by waving her arms a bit. Evidently it was already there, so why was it not already active? As for Espio, it kinda destroys the Chaotix team dynamic if he's more worried about his honour to a bunch of chatoic neutral ninja than his friends.

The Solution: Don't do them. SImple as.


5) Yes, another Face Heel Turn.

The Twist: Geoffrey St. John, staunch supporter of the Acorns and thorn in Sonic's side for this exact reason, turns out to be evil all along and working for Naugus, despite Naugus having the mental faculties of a non-Mobian dog for a long while now.

The Problem: Just... just read that through again and tell me if it makes any sense. According to Geoffrey, Naugus is the rightful king because Max said he could be the next king in exchange for not being a complete dick to him in the Void. Max promised the crown of the Kingdom of Acorn. The Kingdom of Acorn ceased to exist in 179 and the nation is now the Republic of Acorn, which, as a constitutional monarchy, is an entirely different method of government. SO he technically has no right to lead it if Elias wants to pass the crown to his sister or daughter. Furthermore, Naugus has time and again proved to be a horrible choice for a leader by doing such things as attempting to get the Mobians and Robians to kill each other. Also, Geoffrey has a wife who is wholly loyal to the Acorns.

The Solution: Either don't do it, or have Geoffrey really be the mole, trying to use Mogul's willingness to revive Naugus to expose that he is still a villain. Then quietly explain this to Sonic afterwards.


6)  Only Mostly Dead.

The Twist: Hershey St. John is stated to be dead by Geoffrey during a fight with the heroes.

The Problem: This death wasn't even meant to be a real thing: Hershey was supposed to turn up alive. It's another example of being Stuffed into the Fridge: It's a catalyst to drive Geoffrey over the despair event horizon. It's a shock reveal with no substance to provide a motive for another shock reveal.

The Solution: Have Geoffrey dodge the question, and later imply that Mogul/Naugus/both are keeping Hershey as a hostage for blackmailing purposes.


7) Only Mostly Dead again.

The Twist: Sally is gunned down during an assault on the Death Egg, while Sonic is too busy enjoying himself during the fight with Silver Sonic.

The Problem: First off, why did the Freedom Fighters only send Sonic and Sally into the Death Egg (Well, Nicole too, but she has no body up there)? Tails, Amy, Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, etcetera were doing nothing to help. Oh, they were guarding Geoffrey? Put him in a cell uunder accusation of treason and go and help! Tails and Amy ferry them there, and then just fly around outside in the Tornado doing nothing. Second, when it's something as serious as the Death Egg, Sonic would not put aside the mission in order to have a fight with a robot. Third, this death was pointless. Fans will say that it raises the stakes for Sonic to fix things after Genesis, but looking at Genesis, it's a world where only four of his friends are around, and Eggman can roboticize anyone. That's high enough.

The solution: Send more Freedom FIghters in, have Sonic not get distracted so easily, and don't shoot Sally because it's pointless and only done to shock the readership again.


8) Not dead, just painfully turned into a mindless gynoid.

The Twist: Sally, through plot contrivance, is forced to Roboticize herself to stop Eggman's plan.

The Problem: [link] explains it quite nicely. The situation is entirely forced, down to the time they have left fluctuating and Sally halting the list after the first option. Nicole also should be more than powerful enough to get through present-tense tech, since she's from the future and the firewalls should not be anywhere near powerful enough to stop her.

The Solution: If you're going to roboticize Sally, have it get set up differently than this.


9) It's magic, they don't have to explain it.

The Twist: Bunnie gets deroboticized by Naugus.

The Problem: Bunnie's limbs have been stated multiple times to be impossible to deroboticize, due to complicated medical reasons that mainly relate to preserving the status quo. Naugus fixes it with magic. By accident. He somehow manages to turn three separate limbs that have no organic qualities and never have had them into three limbs perfectly suited in size, mass, species, breed, blood type, muscalature and colour. By accident. People have said that having a Chaos Emerald justifies it. No it doesn't. If Chaos Emeralds were all you needed for that, why couldn't Sonic or Tails or Knuckles or SHadow or Merlin or any of the heroes have done that? Oh, because Flynn didn't need a twist and a way to write Bunnie out of the plot.

The Solution: Don't do it, and get her out of the plot by having her stay behind to guard Mobotropolis with Rotor. Look, I know that means that Team Freedom won't be so 'new', but I don't think anyone will complain if Bunnie is included instead of Big the Cat, nor was anyone clamouring for his return, considering that negative reaction to his possible appearance in Generations was great enough for SEGA to actually remove him from the game.


10) Shooting fish in a barrel.

The Twist: Antoine is blown up by a Metal Sonic in the middle of a fight.

The Problem: This was done solely to write Antoine out of the plot and make things seem worse for the heroes. The problem is, aside from 235, the heroes never once act like things are any different that usual for them. Same stupid plans, same lack of focus, same poor quality wisecracks. So why try to force a Darkest Hour if it's not going to have any major effect on the heroes? Oh, right, shocking swerves.

The Solution: See number 9.


11) You know, for kids!

The Twist: Mecha Sally has been carved apart, and large parts of her internal systems have been replaced with guns, as well as her shell being cut apart and replaced, at least half of her processor replaced with a gun, and her core/spark/robot heart/whatever has been replaced with a ring battery that frequently conks out. This also means that it's almost impossible for her to be deroboticized by normal means.

The Problem: Again, just read that again and tell me if you think that should be included in a kids' comic. If you say yes, you're probably screwed up in the head. Worse, Sally's optics are clearly lit up when Eggman goes for her with the blowtorch, and it's established canon that Robians have all of their senses intact, they just have no power to stop themselves. So Sally felt her body being cut open and taken apart. Of course, it might not be a problem now, but only because she might have been lobotmized when her brain was taken apart to squeeze another gun into her skull.

The Solution: Just... just don't.

12) Define 'Traitor.'

The Twist: The 'traitor' that Silver has been searching for is in fact Sally.

The Problem: Sally can not in any way be classed as a traitor. She's under mind control, and has no way to stop herself. Yet Silver still describes her as the traitor, despite knowing this. He doesn't say "We made a mistake: There is no traitor, the culprit was brainwashed." He calls her a traitor. This is also revealed without Silver investigating Tails or Nicole, and he doesn't properly investigate Bunnie, just drop it after Sonic gets pissed at him. It is also spelled out by Harvey Who. Harvey is not only smarter than Silver, and would tell Silver that he has made a mistake in his condemnation, but, also, is not from the future and should not in any way know about Silver's mission or his investigation.


There are probably more than these, but this is my list so far. Feel free to suggest more entries if you like. The fact remains that these are examples of shock twists, and are all bad writing.